Manuel: Bay May Not Be Back This Season

PITTSBURGH (AP) Outfielder Jason Bay’s disappointing season with the New York Mets may already be over because of the concussion he sustained a month ago.

Bay isn’t able to do much physically – apparently, due to his remaining concussion-like symptoms – and manager Jerry Manuel said Friday he won’t he ready to play during the Mets’ weeklong homestand that begins Tuesday.

After that, there might not be enough time left in the soon-to-end minor league season for Bay to go on a rehabilitation assignment.

“That’s the way I see it, I could be way out of line or way out of bounds, but that’s the way I see it,” Manuel said.

Bay, 31, was injured running into a wall in Dodger Stadium while making a catch of Jamey Carroll’s drive on July 23 in Los Angeles. He played in the Mets’ next two games, but complained of headaches during the flight back to New York and hasn’t played since.

Bay is hitting .259 with six homers and 47 RBIs in 95 games, a year after he hit 36 homers with Boston. He signed with the Mets for $66 million over four seasons, even though Citi Field’s spacious left field didn’t seem suited for a right-handed power hitter like Bay.

Bay averaged 31 homers during the previous six seasons with Boston and Pittsburgh.

“He played good baseball, don’t get me wrong, but we never saw that power his history indicated – the 30 homers and 100 RBIs,” Manuel said. “The RBIs are something we really, really would have liked to have seen. The home runs would have been good, too, but the RBIs are what I would have most liked to have seen.”

The Mets never questioned Bay’s effort, even if they haven’t gotten the performance at the plate they wanted.

“He ran hard down the line, he stole bases, he dove for balls. All those things that kind of set us for who we were for a period of time,” Manuel said. “When we lost him, we wondered, `Where did that go?’ That’s what he brought, a workmanlike mentality to our lineup. He wasn’t always successful, but you knew he was going to play hard.”